The Paper Cranes
by Xanthia B
Summary: "The cranes are pretty. Folded and folded yet again, the pieces of rice paper turn into beautiful shapes, sleek and smooth." A brief glance of the story through C.C.'s eyes. Slight C.C. x Lelouch. Please R&R!


**Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass.**

The cranes are pretty. Folded and folded yet again, the pieces of rice paper turn into beautiful shapes, sleek and smooth. She watches, entranced. Then her master calls to her impatiently, and she grips her ragged dress and runs towards him.

_But she doesn't forget_.

* * *

The nun teaches her letters and lets her read the books in the chapel's library. Her name is now C.C., and she likes the name. She reads about everything, and she enjoys it. The nun is skillful and teaches C.C. many other things, too.

"Do you know how to fold paper cranes?" C.C. asks one day.

The nun laughs bitterly and says that the cranes have no meaning, because for the damned, the cranes are no use at all.

So C.C. never asks again.

_But she doesn't believe it._

_

* * *

_

It's not hard to learn. C.C. picks up one of the many paper cranes she has made. Somewhere, she had read about the legend of the 1,000 paper cranes. Fold a thousand, and you have one wish.

The nun only scoffs at her and says that it will never work, because who needs wishes if you're immortal?

C.C. merely shrugs and returns back to her folding.

_But she doesn't stop_.

* * *

"Thank you, child," the nun gasps, and then she dies. Blood pools around her head as she falls slowly to the ground.

Distantly, C.C. hears someone screaming. It's a quiet sound, dim and unclear.

It takes an hour for her to realize that the screaming is her own.

_But there's no use doing that anymore_.

* * *

It's been a couple of centuries now, but she still appears to be a teenager. The war has finally reached Japan.

She wonders what will happen now, as Japanese citizens around her panic about the future.

_But there's no point in panicking when you can't truly die_.

* * *

The gas capsule is opened, and two boys catch her. One of them is gunned down, and she flings herself at the other.

The bullet hurts, but she can take it.

_"Do you want the power?"_ she asks the exiled Prince.

He accepts.

She wonders if he knows that she's condemned him, and she feels a slight pang in her heart.

_But it's only after that she reminds herself that witches don't have hearts._

* * *

The paper cranes never disappeared from her memory.

She almost smiles when he gets a shock from seeing her folding paper cranes with his sister. Her eyes trace the sharp contours of his face, and in her mind she reflects how handsome he is.

He drags her to his room, but she refuses to give him any answers, and she steals his bed, as well.

_But the only reason she's come is to keep him safe._

* * *

He's going to fight his sister, the Second Princess of Britannia.

She won't let him. She _can't_ let him. He'll die, she knows. So she points her gun at his leg and threatens to shoot him.

He knows her weaknesses, though, and aims his gun at his own head. The action forces her to lower her own gun.

Later on, she dress in his outfit and saves him again. When he asks why, she gives him a vague answer about promises and such.

_But she'll never tell him the truth, will she?_

* * *

Mao shoots her and she falls.

The foolish boy comes to her rescue once more, and makes another contract, this time for _her_ to accept.

So she grasps his hand, and she feels her breath hitch when he closes his fingers around hers.

Soon, their fingers break apart, and she turns away.

_But all she wanted to do was hold him forever and never let go._

* * *

C.C. accompanies him while he tries to save his sister.

Her hand tightens around the Gawain's controls. There's something she wants to do before she dies...again.

She whips around and kisses him swiftly, and he doesn't resist.

That's all she remembers. The rest of the fight is a blur, and then she is dragged, along with the Seigfried, into the depths.

Her eyelids start to close as she is slowly crushed to a seemingly inescapable death.

_But at least she managed to kiss him beforehand_.

* * *

He asks her to kill V.V.'s subordinates, and she says yes.

The gun seems to fire on its own. She kills them all, and there's nothing she cares about right now besides making him smile again.

_But he doesn't smile, not even when she's finished_.

* * *

"You shouldn't die looking like that," he shouts at her, and she wants to smile at him, but she can't.

He grabs her, and then she forgets almost everything that's happened.

_But she doesn't forget him._

* * *

He kills his mother and father, but she doesn't die.

She's glad that she gave up the plan. There's still so much that she hasn't told him yet - she couldn't die _now_.

He's crying now, and she wants to reach out and wipe at his tears.

Then she catches herself - _witches don't belong with the pure_ - and she clasps her hands together instead in an effort to stop them from shaking.

_But is it really so wrong to love him?_

_

* * *

_

She hurls her Frontier forward and snarls at the effort. Kallen rams her Guren against the Frontier, and C.C. feels herself falling backwards.

"Do you love him?" Kallen taunts.

She looks down - _a foolish thing to do, especially in the midst of battle_ - and she can't seem to find the right words.

The Guren slams into the Frontier again, and she is ejected to safety, but she still has no answer for the Guren's pilot.

_But there's no possible true answer to that question. The truth is forbidden._

_

* * *

_

She kneels in the chapel and tries to pray.

But nobody is listening. Who would listen to a witch?

He's dead in a moment, and she tries to convince herself that she hated him for breaking her heart.

She hates him. Yes, she does.

_But there's no point in lying. She can't fool herself anyway_.

* * *

She lies on the back of the moving cart and feels the wind blow through her hair. The breeze stops eventually. Emerald green strands float around and then gently land back on her shoulders.

"The Power of Kings, known as Geass, brings one solitude." C.C. stares into the blue sky. She eyes the passing clouds, remembering days of bliss and happiness, when a boy would laugh and laugh, and she never wanted him to stop.

"Not quite accurate, is it?"

_She can still see him laughing_.

The wind blows again, and she closes her eyes. She reaches one hand to her side, and it lands on a small object - a pink crane.

The paper crane seems to be listening. She takes a deep breath and smiles.

"Right, Lelouch?"

_But he doesn't answer._

* * *

**A/N: *hides in shame* Yes, I know I said that I would finish the Little Match Girl, but my muse has taken control right now. A quick ficlet.**


End file.
